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BMHS Student set to attend Harvard this fall
BELOIT- Beloit Memorial High School student Dalton Raykowski has been set on attending an Ivy League school for a few years now, but the prestigious Harvard University was actually not at the top of his list.
“I was pretty set on going to Columbia,” Raykowski said. “I know Harvard will open so many doors when it comes to graduate schools and internships and I can’t really be disappointed in going there.”
During late March, Raykowski found out he was accepted at Harvard, but he already had been rejected by his top pick and other ivy league colleges. Before opening his letter from Harvard, he found out the other school he was accepted to was Stony Brook University in Long Island, New York. Of the 15 schools Raykowski had submitted applications to, he was only accepted at two. Fortunately, one of those two was Harvard.
“The Ivy League schools all typically do the same release day,” he explained. “I was going through and I had an alarm set on my phone for when the times were coming out. Harvard was one of the last ones (he opened) because I had been rejected by every other school. Then I saw that one and my mood immediately flipped because I was not expecting much.”
When applying to colleges and universities, Raykowski had a lot of support from his teachers and said it wasn’t hard for him to get recommendation letters. He also wrote his essay in advance and was able to have four rounds of edits from teachers before he submitted it.
Raykowski is looking forward to his future at Harvard, and has big ambitions to try and be valedictorian. He is looking to either go into STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology and Marth) or pre-law.
His mother, Eileen Raykowki, said that her son has always been ambitious.
“He’s just never stopped,” Eileen said. “They just keep telling him no, but he kept saying yes. I’m going, I don’t care what anybody says, I’m going. He just has never taken no for an answer.”
Eileen adds that she found out her son was accepted to Harvard at work, where she announced it to her co-workers and they all screamed and cried with each other. She also said that her son comes from a white collar family where they value hard work. Her son worked jobs through his high school career and managed to keep his grades up.
“He’s just nonstop,” she said.
Dalton’s father, Francis, is also very proud of his son and always saw his potential.
“He’s always been a step above everybody else,” Francis said. “Everything was a challenge for him. I can do this, I can be the best. And that’s what he would shoot for.”
Francis added that his son was a wonderful child when he was young and was always willing to help around the house and even scrub the toilet bowls.
"I always felt he never wanted to be left out," Francis said.
For Dalton, he's looking forward to his future on the East Coast.
"It's just going to be nice to get into a new environment," Dalton said. "I've kind of mostly reached my max potential here in Beloit and I feel like going out East there's a lot more opportunities for me."